Ninjas, samurais, Pokemon, Nintendo, sushi, and so on are what many think of when they hear Japan. It’s a relatively small country that’s an island right by China and South Korea. Japan gains tourism for Mt. Fuji and is seen as an interesting country with lineages and other traditional cultures (Ito & Crutcher, 2014). But, Japan is changing with the times and is evolving its culture. From the past and to the present, Japan has had such a big presence in society with just its culture. Its culture has many components to it, but the one that’s the best and most prominent is the pop culture.
For instance, Manga is a huge industry and influence that helps Japanese pop culture thrive today. Manga is Japan’s version of “comics”, but it can also include as “caricatures, cartoons, syndicated panel, and cartoon strip”s under its umbrella (Ito & Crutcher, 2014). With that much
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The U.S does rely on natural talent to produce artists/celebrities and doesn’t have an actual system that trains people to be singers, dancers, and etc. Moreover, Idols focus more on their fan base, appearance, and “persona” that was assigned to them by their company (Brand, 2017). Because the idols care for them more, the fans feel validated and invest more in them. People can pick their favorite idol by their looks and personality. The fans are a large contributing part of the idol system. Additionally, idols in Japan can have tons of fans even when they’re not real. This applies to Hatsune Miku who “is a virtual pop star, developed as a voice synthesizer (or “Vocaloid”) by Crypton Future Media” and the fans can compose the music she sings and even be in charge of her choreography (Zushi, 2017). Hatsune Miku is not a real person, yet she is so popular. The fans can be a part of her music and character, in general, is something that real idols can’t do. Japan breaks the status quo and the world what they can